I'm not sure what it is about Grandpas, but they seem to make the pain go away! And for that I won't complain!
When Mom and I mentioned putting on a new set as soon as we got over there this morning, Ellee started whimpering and crying. So we called for Grandpa (who is home for a few days from the National Guards). He comes out and sits down on the couch with her. He asks her questions about the pump, like how many times we have to do this vs. how many shots we get a day. While she insists that we do this set in her arm, I hate telling her that with the size of the set I have that it's too big to put in her arm so we have to find a very fatty area.
There isn't much cooperation to it at this point, so I firmly tell her that it's time to put it in. She can either lay down on the couch, lay down on the floor, or give Grandpa a big bear hug. Bear hug it is. She climbs up onto Grandpa's lap, facing him, and likes the idea that when it hurts, she hugs his neck as hard as she can!
Our last appointment with the nurse where we were taught how to insert these sets didn't go over very well. I was very nervous about using the 30 degree setter because the 2 times the nurse did it, the tape didn't set quite right. Although with the 90 degree disc that I used yesterday, I had to resnap it a few times due to the contour of her body.
Deep breath... I positioned it on her upper butt to how I thought it would feel more comfortable and snapped, pushed the tape against her and pulled it out and DONE! She didn't even have time to escalate from a whimpering to the expected screaming and crying that we had the last two times! Awesome! Now we just have to wait and see if she complains about any pain from this site and type of set.
I'm crossing my fingers that the next three days go well because I'm faxing the paperwork to the pump company this afternoon! I hope that she understands that this is the best option in the long run.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
3 Days
We were off to a rough start, lots of tears and pain, but 3 days are over now, and happy to report no major pains!
3 days is the length of time that you wear an insulin pump set. After three days, you take that one off and insert a new one in a different location. Ellee did not like the idea of inserting the set. She screamed, cried, and struggled. But it needed to be done, so I tried to set it as fast as I could. I put it on her upper butt so that she would hopefully forget about it and not be able to easily reach it to remove it when ever she wanted.
And it worked! The first day there was an occasional whimper of it hurting, but she got distracted and moved onto something else. The next evening, she was proud to show that it was still on and that it didn't hurt. Same thing that next evening.
This morning it was time to remove it and insert another one. If we can get through a couple of these, then I would be comfortable calling the pump company and requesting the paperwork to get the ball rolling with the insurance company. She was not happy because she saw the new set in my hand and started flipping out. Mom and I tried to reason with her to no avail. I was able to remove the old one with out her really acknowledging it, but not able to insert the new one.
The compromise. Mom and I tried to reason with her. This "shot" once every three days doesn't hurt nearly as bad as 15 shots over three days as long as she relaxed and didn't fight us. I also explained that once we get the pump, once we remove one we have to insert another one to replace it. But in the mean time, since this is just a test, we decided it was best to wait a day. Our deal is that we will put the new one on in the morning so that she can show Grandpa how it works!
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will work. In the mean time, I will be calling the pump company and trying to get things going. I'd like to be far enough along that we can get any questions or concerns addressed by the doctor next month. And I hope that we are far enough along that we can ease any concerns the doctor has, since her office have been dragging their feet with this whole process.
3 days is the length of time that you wear an insulin pump set. After three days, you take that one off and insert a new one in a different location. Ellee did not like the idea of inserting the set. She screamed, cried, and struggled. But it needed to be done, so I tried to set it as fast as I could. I put it on her upper butt so that she would hopefully forget about it and not be able to easily reach it to remove it when ever she wanted.
And it worked! The first day there was an occasional whimper of it hurting, but she got distracted and moved onto something else. The next evening, she was proud to show that it was still on and that it didn't hurt. Same thing that next evening.
This morning it was time to remove it and insert another one. If we can get through a couple of these, then I would be comfortable calling the pump company and requesting the paperwork to get the ball rolling with the insurance company. She was not happy because she saw the new set in my hand and started flipping out. Mom and I tried to reason with her to no avail. I was able to remove the old one with out her really acknowledging it, but not able to insert the new one.
The compromise. Mom and I tried to reason with her. This "shot" once every three days doesn't hurt nearly as bad as 15 shots over three days as long as she relaxed and didn't fight us. I also explained that once we get the pump, once we remove one we have to insert another one to replace it. But in the mean time, since this is just a test, we decided it was best to wait a day. Our deal is that we will put the new one on in the morning so that she can show Grandpa how it works!
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will work. In the mean time, I will be calling the pump company and trying to get things going. I'd like to be far enough along that we can get any questions or concerns addressed by the doctor next month. And I hope that we are far enough along that we can ease any concerns the doctor has, since her office have been dragging their feet with this whole process.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
How do you explain?
How do you explain to a 6 year old that going to an insulin pump is a better option? I'm finding that there really isn't an easy way. I shouldn't be upset, or complain, or even be surprised because for a year and a half after diagnosis I wasn't sold on it myself. It took me that long to warm up to the thought of having something inserted into you continuously for 3 days. Needless to say though, through a seminar and a chat with a pump rep I was able to experience it first hand. And I finally understood that it wasn't as bad as my mind made it out to be. I've been able to have two different types of pump sets inserted and wear them around and realized that these will make life so much easier! Control will be so much better and the idea of one stick every three days is so much better than 15 that we currently have with shots!
Our two year anniversary was in April and annual blood tests came back normal, so I am thankful for that! I wanted to start the pump process in hopes of having it in time for school to start, but no such luck. First was the disappointments about the "classes" that the doctors office requires you to go through. I'll spare the details, but I'm sorely disappointed with the two "classes" we've had to take so far. But the best thing to come out of the second one is that we were finally able to insert a set on Ellee to see how she would react to it.
The reaction was not good, but we are told that it is typical. While sitting in the doctors office with a nurse showing us how to set these, Ellee flips out. We get the pump rep in there to help us offer what we hope would be words of comfort, but El is so freaked out that she doesn't hear anything we are saying. Unfortunately it comes down to having her sitting on my lap and holding her arms, dad holds her legs and the pump rep quickly inserts it into her thigh. After she calms down, I hope that she will realize that it's not that bad... wrong!
After getting lunch and heading home, it's a typical evening with the girls playing. At bed time as I get them in bed, Ellee informs me that when we had gotten home, she went into her bedroom and removed it, then stuck it back on. As she is telling me this, she pulls it off and says she doesn't want to wear it. I'm devastated because *I* am ready for the pump, but also because we have to go back to the fights about the night-night shots of Lantus. She *HATES* this shot, she says it hurts and it's the only time she freaks out when we have to do a shot. We have told her repeatedly that we can get rid of these shots if we go on the pump.
The girls were at their dad's last week, so once I got them back, I talked with Ellee. What is it that she didn't like about the pump thing? To my surprise, it wasn't the metal needle that inserts the cannula (plastic tube that stays inserted in the skin that delivers the insulin) but the cannula itself. I can't say that I'm surprised because that was my biggest concern. Then I asked her what does she like about it? Less shots and NO night-night shot!!!
When I dropped the girls off at Mom's house on Monday morning, I had Mom sit down with her as we went over this again. I told her that I wanted to try a set one more time and asked her to try as hard as she could to leave it alone. It was a fight to get her still enough to insert it on her butt, but I did it. Mom held her across her lap, I inserted it and detached the tubing. She cried for a few minutes, saying that it hurt but then go engrossed into her cartoon and forgot about it. I wondered the whole day at work how she was doing with it, but resisted the urge to call because I didn't want her to be reminded of it in case she forgot she had it on.
I picked the girls up for soccer practice and Mom said she did good about it! She said a few times that it hurt, but it was a brief complaint before going on to play with something. At practice, she came off the field crying and holding her middle back. I worried that she got hit or kicked there, but she said she fell and the pain she showed me was higher up. Whhheeeeewwww!
She left it alone all of last night and this morning when I dropped the girls off, Mom asked about it. Ellee proudly stood up and raised her night gown so that we could see that it was still on there! Mom and I were so excited! I'm not going to hold my breath, there is still time for this to go wrong, but it's a step ahead of where we were two weeks ago!! I'm going to keep my fingers crossed and call the pump company to see about getting the ball rolling!
Our two year anniversary was in April and annual blood tests came back normal, so I am thankful for that! I wanted to start the pump process in hopes of having it in time for school to start, but no such luck. First was the disappointments about the "classes" that the doctors office requires you to go through. I'll spare the details, but I'm sorely disappointed with the two "classes" we've had to take so far. But the best thing to come out of the second one is that we were finally able to insert a set on Ellee to see how she would react to it.
The reaction was not good, but we are told that it is typical. While sitting in the doctors office with a nurse showing us how to set these, Ellee flips out. We get the pump rep in there to help us offer what we hope would be words of comfort, but El is so freaked out that she doesn't hear anything we are saying. Unfortunately it comes down to having her sitting on my lap and holding her arms, dad holds her legs and the pump rep quickly inserts it into her thigh. After she calms down, I hope that she will realize that it's not that bad... wrong!
After getting lunch and heading home, it's a typical evening with the girls playing. At bed time as I get them in bed, Ellee informs me that when we had gotten home, she went into her bedroom and removed it, then stuck it back on. As she is telling me this, she pulls it off and says she doesn't want to wear it. I'm devastated because *I* am ready for the pump, but also because we have to go back to the fights about the night-night shots of Lantus. She *HATES* this shot, she says it hurts and it's the only time she freaks out when we have to do a shot. We have told her repeatedly that we can get rid of these shots if we go on the pump.
The girls were at their dad's last week, so once I got them back, I talked with Ellee. What is it that she didn't like about the pump thing? To my surprise, it wasn't the metal needle that inserts the cannula (plastic tube that stays inserted in the skin that delivers the insulin) but the cannula itself. I can't say that I'm surprised because that was my biggest concern. Then I asked her what does she like about it? Less shots and NO night-night shot!!!
When I dropped the girls off at Mom's house on Monday morning, I had Mom sit down with her as we went over this again. I told her that I wanted to try a set one more time and asked her to try as hard as she could to leave it alone. It was a fight to get her still enough to insert it on her butt, but I did it. Mom held her across her lap, I inserted it and detached the tubing. She cried for a few minutes, saying that it hurt but then go engrossed into her cartoon and forgot about it. I wondered the whole day at work how she was doing with it, but resisted the urge to call because I didn't want her to be reminded of it in case she forgot she had it on.
I picked the girls up for soccer practice and Mom said she did good about it! She said a few times that it hurt, but it was a brief complaint before going on to play with something. At practice, she came off the field crying and holding her middle back. I worried that she got hit or kicked there, but she said she fell and the pain she showed me was higher up. Whhheeeeewwww!
She left it alone all of last night and this morning when I dropped the girls off, Mom asked about it. Ellee proudly stood up and raised her night gown so that we could see that it was still on there! Mom and I were so excited! I'm not going to hold my breath, there is still time for this to go wrong, but it's a step ahead of where we were two weeks ago!! I'm going to keep my fingers crossed and call the pump company to see about getting the ball rolling!
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